Product Description

We are in the realm of Siam which once upon a time was heaven on earth, a vast country where elephants and rhinoceroses had been living in peace for centuries. Once, the earth started to shake and Siam was reduced to three regions surrounded by gigantic mountains. Since then, elephants and rhinoceroses don't have enough space to live. These two incredibly strong species shall now struggle mercilessly to rule over two territories.

To win the game, be the first player to push a rock out of the board. An animal can push a rock -- but beware, if you want to push out an animal which faces you, you have to be superior in numbers, e.g. you will need 2 animals to push 1 out, 3 to push 2 out, etc.

The simplicity of Siam's rules and the profoundness of its gameplay will please the players of all strengths and ages.

Product Reviews

This game is very very good. It is quite simple and yet it retains a
remarkable depth of strategy, which not only makes it a quick game to
explain to a new player but the game is so easy to observe and analyze
that players can think several moves ahead without getting a headache.
Unlike Chess for example, players can play this game at an expert
level without practicing memory skills and studying gambits. In Chess
you have several pieces that do different things, in this game you
have one type of piece that you can do several different things with
and these several different things are so intuitive it's uncommon for
a player to forget what he can do with his pieces. I don't mean to
imply that this is a casual gamers game that doesn't require a lot of
thought, but rather, the thought required to win is less encumbered by
things irrelevant to the actual game play itself.

The game time is also quite ideal for two players with games typically
lasting half an hour to an hour depending on the experience of the
players and the amount of thinking time they afford one another. Also,
player's rarely end up in long drawn out end-games where there is a
clear winner slowly crushing his/her opponent. Very often a player in
what appears to be a losing position can shift the balance with a
single well-placed move. The board and pieces are high quality and
look good when the game is left out. The only shortcoming of this game
is the directions were not translated very well and so there is some
potential for confusion unless you take a good look at the diagrams
which illustrate the moves you can make.

The first thing you'll notice about the "Siam" game, are the
pieces... They look like they were plucked directly from some
type of fancy Far Eastern Chess Set. You'll find five (5) sculpted
looking Elephants in an ivory color and (5) sculpted looking
Rhinos in a brown color, along with (3) equally attractive
Mountain pieces that make up the game components. Each piece
has felt on the bottom and feels good in the hand and are quite
beautiful. In addition, the game comes with a nice thick wooden
board made up of squares, in a 5x5 arrangement. The often
heard comment, about leaving a game on display on your coffee
table, really does apply to this one. Mine sits on a shelf with the
pieces on the board, ready at any moment for a quick game. On
the downside, these pieces are very delicate, so there's always
the concern about dropping one and having it chip or break. It's
almost makes me wish they were made out of wood instead of
resin. Surprisingly, the publisher decided not to include any
special insert for the box where the pieces might sit securely and
safely, but instead opted to include just a few loose separate
Styrofoam strips with small bubble bags taped to them for the
pieces, which is another reason I leave my set out. With that
said, it's truly the only flaw I could find with the game.

THE GOAL:

The goal of Siam is easy: Be the first player to push a Mountain
piece off the board. However, when a Mountain is pushed off,
two other criteria must be met:

You must have a piece in the same line, that's closest to the
Mountain.

This piece must be facing in the same direction as the
Mountain.

GAME PLAY

The board starts with the 3 mountain pieces aligned in the center
with all the other pieces off the board.
The Mountains, are neutral pieces in the game and belong to no
one. The only way they can be moved on the board, is when
they're pushed by another piece or pieces. On your turn, you
can choose between one of the following options:

Place a piece on any outer square of the board and have the
piece face in any of four directions.

Remove a piece from any outer square of the board.

Move a piece already on the board 1 square vertically or
horizontally. If you wish, you may also change the direction the
piece faces.

Change the direction a piece faces that's already on the
board..

Use a piece on the board to push one or more pieces 1
square.

PUSHING OVERVIEW:

Where Siam really shines, is in the possibilities of pushing one or
more pieces on the board. This is far more then "2 pieces can
push one" or "3 pieces can push 2", as seen in other pushing
games. In Siam, both sides pieces, can help or hinder in the
pushing process, depending on which direction each piece faces.

Even though one or more pieces may be pushed in an up, down,
left or right direction, for the purposes of this description, you can
assume the pushing is done from left to right, with the players
piece who's on turn, at the very left and facing right, which is the
only direction it could face to be able to push to the right.

You can also push with a piece that's just being brought into
play, by pushing from the outer edge of the board. Thus as
many as five other pieces/mountains, may be pushed at the
same time, causing whatever piece is on the end to leave the
board, including one of your own. The Mountain pieces don't face
in any particular direction and exert no influence/force in the
pushing process. Thus you can push a Mountain with just one
single piece of your own or with two pieces facing right will push
two Mountains, etc. The Rhinos and Elephants on the other
hand, can each exert an influence/force of "1", provided they
face either left or right. Pieces facing in the opposite direction of
a pushing movement, are also pushing back, and that includes
pieces of your own, so in order for a push to be legal, there must
be more influence/force on the side doing the pushing. In
addition, If your pushing from left to right, any pieces that face
up or down, exert no influence/force at all, and thus it's as if they
aren't even there. It gets a little more complicated, when you
have both pieces and Mountains in the same line, but after a few
games you'll get the hang of it.

THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:

While playing, I was very surprised at how much thought can go
into choosing which option to take on your turn. In spite of the
small number of pieces and the size of the board, I got the sense
I was playing a game on a board twice the size. Like chess, it's a
battle between two equal sides trying to be the first to
accomplish the same thing. Unlike chess however, there's no
capturing and so one must try and find the best spots for their
pieces, at just the right time, to pull off a victory. This is certainly
a game worthy of any collection. It's definitely clever, beautiful
and big fun.

Arthur Reilly

Other Resources for Siam:

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